The Mouse and the Elephant

（单词翻译:单击）

    A young mouse had just arrived from Athens where he had ac-quired a smattering of learning．He was very proud of this little wisdom that he had learnt from the books he had studied．Puffed¹ up with pride and conceit² and anxious to display his wit he thus one day ad-dressed an elephant，“Because nature has made you so large you need not be so pompous³ in your gait．It is true that you are big in size but this has no value；because to my way of thinking it is a great disadvantage．You are too big for nimble motion．Your gait is slow and sluggish⁴．But look at me！I am made to fly．I can skip about from place to place．But you are lazy and must stop to breathe at each creeping step．Poor beast you are．And each time I examine your bulk I really pity—”
    The proud mouse did not finish his speech to the elephant，be-cause just as he was about to conclude his oration，a cat who had grown tired of listening to his words of wisdom，pounced upon him and ate him up．This experiment that the cat performed proved that there is a great difference between mice and elephants．